Perfect Lies
by Cissa The Bookworm
Summary: Barry and Sebastian are separated at birth and meet by chance (some may say fate) when Barry attends Dalton Academy for his junior year of high school. Join them as they find out their true relationship to each other and as they uncover all the facts of their past. Featuring a lot of Warbler shenanigans, twins fooling that unlucky Dalton administration, and probably some heartbreak
1. Sins of the Father

Henry and Nora Allen were going to be blessed with twins, two bouncing baby boys. Nora smiled happily at her husband, "Can you believe it? Twins!"

Henry dropped a kiss on her forehead, "I can't wait to meet them."

Nora laughed, "But not too soon."

Robert and Moira Smythe were happy to have the ultrasound confirm the gender of their child. "It's going to be a boy!" Moira smiled, a happy blush taking over her cheeks.

Robert chuckled, "A little boy for you to pamper and dress up."

"Oh hush! It's not like I'm going to force him to always wear pink and purple!" Moira laughingly scolded her husband.

"If you say so, dear." Robert said, trying to sound as condescending as possible through his laughter.

"Brat." Moira smacked his shoulder as she walked past him towards the kitchen, "Now, what do you want for dinner. I was thinking we could have…"

It was fate that brought both couples to the Central City Medical Center on January 14 for the birth of the kids. Moira was first to give birth. Robert passed back and forth in the lobby, worry marring his brow. What felt like hours later, the doctor finally came out to talk to him. After leading Robert to a quiet corner, the doctor gives his condolences, "I'm sorry to say that the baby didn't make it."

"What?" Robert asked in disbelief.

"I know it's hard, but your child was a stillborn."

"He had a perfect, beating heart at the last ultrasound." Robert's voice sounded strained.

"I'm sorry, this happens sometimes."

A glower came over his face, "Moira mustn't know of this, it will ruin her."

"What would you have me do?" The doctor asks in disbelief, "Steal someone else's baby?"

A contemplative looks crosses Roberts face before he calmly replies, "Yes. That man over there," Robert points towards Henry, "is having twins, he was talking about it to the man beside him. They'll have one child. Simply tell them that one of the twins didn't make it."

"Sir, what you're saying is highly illegal and I couldn't possibly do that. I'm going to have to ask you to go sit down and-"

"Thirty thousand."

"Excuse me?" The doctor tsks at Robert.

Robert allows a small smirk to climb on his face, "How does a thirty thousand dollar donation to the hospital from Smythe Incorporated sound. I'll also throw in another ten thousand for you for your troubles."

The doctor mentally sighs in awe at what that money could do for the hospital, all the upgrades that could finally happen. All the improved care that could happen. Even while he knew it was illegal, where else was the hospital going to get the money they needed to improve their patient care? Besides, the doctor rationalized in his mind, sometimes only one twin survives, it was a horrible fact of life. "Give my ten thousand to the local medical research center and you've got yourself a deal."

Robert nods, "It's done. I'll have the charitable donations given to their respective places before the day is out. Now, when can I see my son and wife?"

"The twins are not yet born, the mother has yet to go into labor. Your wife is out of it at the moment, but before the day is up, you shall have your son." The doctor, feeling only mildly guilty, nods to Robert and walks off to deal with the semantics of this scheme.

Henry felt awkward as he waited in the lobby, it was usually him in the operating room. Hours passed without a word about Nora's condition, but soon enough the doctor came back to the lobby and gestured for Henry. "I have some good and bad news, Henry."

Henry looks troubled as he says, "The bad news, if you would."

"We lost one of the twins." The doctor plows on before Henry can comment, "The good news is that Nora and the other baby are perfectly healthy."

Henry looks devastated as he asks, "Does Nora know?"

"Yes, she has already been informed." The doctor gestures for Henry to follow him, "If you would follow me, you can see your wife and son."

A few minutes later Henry walks into the recovery room to see Nora holding one of the twins, tears fresh on her face. Henry sits down in the hard guest chair and strokes the baby's head. "What are you going to call him?"

"Bartholomew Henry Allen." Nora hiccups a sob, "Barry for short."

"That sounds perfect."

Robert walks into his wife's recovery room to see her happily holding the baby. "How are you feeling, honey?"

Moira laughs, "Like I just got trampled by a herd of elephants."

"That bad?" Robert laughs, "But he's perfect."

"He is." Moira agrees happily, "I thought we could name him Sebastian James Smythe."

Robert unknowingly repeats what Henry said, moments before, "That sounds perfect."


	2. Summer Nights

_Note: This story is crossposted from AO3 where my pen name is the same as on this site._

Joe drops the last of Barry's bags onto the bed with an exhausted huff. "Did you bring enough stuff, kid?" Joe teases him.

Barry laughs, "I'm going to be here the entire year, Joe, I think I can be excused for bringing a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, but you're going to come home for Thanksgiving."

"But I'll probably need some of that stuff that I'd leave behind before then." Barry counters with a large grin on his face.

"Ah, you win." Joe smiles, reaching out and ruffling Barry's hair a tad. "Do you want help unpacking?"

"Nah, I'll do it after Warbler auditions. YOu have a long drive home anyways." Barry dismisses.

"I better get going then." Joe pulls Barry in for a hug, "And you'll knock 'em dead at auditions."

Barry burrows slightly farther into Joe's chest. "Thanks, Joe."

"I'll miss ya kid."

"I'll miss you too." Barry and Joe let each other go with reluctant movements.

Joe pats Barry's shoulder once more before backing out of the room and making his way back to his car for the ride back to Central City. Barry looks at his things spread out around his half of the room and the tidy piles that existed on his roommate's side. Barry mentally shrugged, he'll deal with it later. He needs to get ready and be in the Warbler practice hall in ten minutes or he was going to be late for his audition time.

Ten minutes later Barry skids into the Warbler practice hall and respectfully nods at the assembled mass of Warblers. "Is our next Warbler here?" One of the Council members asked from his position facing the wall. One of the members that was allowed to look at Barry finally spoke up, breaking the stunned silence of the Warblers where some of them quite literally had their jaws hanging open. Their more composed neighbors politely shut their mouths for them.

'Yeah, he's here."

"Good." The same Council member spoke, "Potential Warbler, if you could simply tell one of the Warblers what audition piece you chose."

"Uh," Barry fumbled with his words as he spoke to the closest Warbler, "I chose 'Glad You Came'." Barry finally manages to spit out.

"Number three." The Warbler repeats loud enough for all the Warblers to hear.

A couple seconds later the Warblers start up the opening notes for the song. It took When Barry started singing, a couple of the Warblers were startled enough that they either butchered the note they were singing or were shocked into silence. Thankfully enough Warblers kept their composure and they were able to pull through and let Barry sing.

Barry was hesitant, he hadn't sang much in front of people, but the Warblers seemed like a forgiving enough group if he totally screwed up his audition.

"The sun goes down  
The stars come out  
And all that counts  
Is here and now  
My universe will never be the same  
I'm glad you came…"

After the encouraging nods he got from the Warblers, Barry picked up the pace and sang with confidence for the rest of the song, even getting into it enough to dance around the room and goof off with the Warblers. Barry came to a stop and sang the last "I'm glad you came." to the backs of the Council members.

Two of the three Council members turned around to address the Warbler, but before they could really opened their mouth to make a comment, they just stared in shock at Barry. "What's taking you two so…." The last of the Council turns around to look and stops short in his talking.

Barry and the third Council Warbler stared in shock at each other for a few stunned minutes before Barry finally speaks up, "Uh, hi, my name is Barry Allen." Barry gave a dorky little wave at the end of his introduction.

Shaking himself out the shock, the Council member who shared Barry's face replied, "Sebastian Smythe. It's nice to meet you, roomie."

Sebastian's statement startles a laugh out of Barry, "What are the odds?"

Sebastian shrugs helplessly. The Council member from the beginning finally regains himself enough to talk, "I'm Thad and this is the other Council member Nick." Thad sweeps his arm towards Nick. "Before we got shocked into silence, we were going to have Sebastian and you sing a song together."

"Any reason why, if I may ask?" Barry hesitantly inquires.

"It's not standard procedure, if that's what you're asking." Thad states.

"But quite honestly we want to see how alike the two of you sound." Nick goes on to say, "Because it's creepy how much you sound like Sebastian. I honestly thought it was him singing for a moment there, if I didn't know that he was sitting right on the other side of Thad."

Barry nodded in understanding, "Uh, yeah, sure I can do that."

"Not that they're going to vote you out. You're totally one of us know, since you share the same voice I do and all." Sebastian smiles teasingly at Barry.

Barry sagely nods, "It would be kind of rude to kick me out if I sounded exactly like one of the current members."

"So what song do you want to do, doppleganger?" Sebastian asks.

"I thought I'd let you chose, so long as I knew the song."

"Summer NIghts from Grease?"

Barry laughs, "As long as I get to be Sandy."

Sebastian lets out a giggle that surprises not only the Warblers, but himself. "You've got yourself a deal! Now chop chop Warblers, this song isn't going to sing itself."

With a few huffs and plenty of eye rolling, the Warblers start singing 'Summer Nights' and arranging themselves on either side of the doppelgangers, mimicking Sandy's girls and the posse that surrounded Danny.

"Summer lovin' had me a blast." Sebastian teased his friends.

"Summer lovin' happened so fast." Barry laughed as he started his part.

The Warblers danced around the two as they sang their way through the song, marveling at how easily the two slipped into harmony with each other.

"Well he got friendly, holdin' my hand." Barry playfully scooped up Sebastian's hand who gently tossed it down for his line "Well he got friendly, down in the sand." and did a little bit of air grinding that made Barry almost miss his line.

The two finished the song with truly awful ending notes and burst out laughing, "That was super creepy.." One Warbler boldly states.

"Like having two Sebastian's sing a duet together." another commented.

"This is going to be awesome for competitions." Thad said, rubbing his hands together in glee, thinking about all the amazing things they could do with double the amount of an incredible voice.

Nick laughs, "Slow down, Doctor Doom and Gloom"

Sebastian and Barry stand facing each other fully, looking each other over for something that would easily tell them apart. "Like looking into a slightly less fab mirror." Sebastian snarks.

Barry blushes, "Not everyone can have perfect hair every hour of the day. Besides, who says fab anymore?"

Sebastian whistles, "So he does have some bite! There's hope for you yet."

"I'm not going to turn into an evil doppleganger." Barry rolls his eyes, "If that's what you're aiming for."

Sebastian laughs, "There's still time, twin."

Barry glares at Sebastian for a moment or two, "I demand to know who had this face first."

"Well I don't know about you but I was born January 14."

"No." Barry says in an unbelieving tone of voice "That's my birthday too. Where were you born?"

"Central City." Sebastian semi-hesitantly answers. "You?"

Barry nods, "Central City."

"This is no freak genetic thing." Sebastian states, "This is like Parent Trap without the divorced parents."

"Agreed." Barry nods once more in agreement. "C'mon, I'm going to go call my foster dad and see what's up."

"Foster dad?" Sebastian queries.

"My dad is very much alive….I'll explain more back in our room." Barry grabs Sebastian and hauls him out of the room.

"Hey Seb!" Nick calls, "I'll drop a Warbler schedule off for you guys on my way to my room."

"Thanks Nick!" Sebastian manages to get out before Barry had pulled Sebastian fully out of the room and halfway down the hall back to the dorm rooms.


	3. Twins

"So messy." Sebastian complains once he sets eyes on Barry's half of the room.

"I really don't think that that's our main concern at the moment." Barry snaps, pushing enough stuff around so he can sit down on his bed. "How much do you look like your parents?"

"Not very much?" Sebastian answers in confusion as he settles on his own bed. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Everything." Barry replies, "I look like my dad when he was my age. So this Parent Trap thing, it's you that somehow got separated from me."

Sebastian shakes his head in disbelief, "This is crazy! My parents didn't steal me or anything."

Barry throws his hands up, "We can't know that!"

"My parents aren't baby stealers!"

"Well then how do you explain us both being born on January 14 in Central City? Like you said, this can't be a some crazy genetic thing."

Sebastian sighs, "What do you have in mind?"

"I was going to call my foster dad and ask some questions."

"Like what?"

"My foster dad has known my parents for a long time, if he knew anything about them supposed to have twins but only ending up with one, he would know."

"So how are you going to explain this really random question? I can't imagine outright asking it would go over very well."

"Please." Barry scoffs, "I'll just tell him to switch to conference call once I know he's able. He's traveling back to Central at the moment." Barry quickly explains.

Sebastian gestures for Barry to go ahead, "Be my guest."

Barry scoops up his phone and dials Joe's number, placing the phone on speaker. "Hey Joe."

"Hey, kid. Missing me already?" Joe teases.

"Um, I actually have a question and it's going to sound pretty crazy. Are you at a place where you can Facetime me?"

"Sure." Joe responds, confusion lacing his voice. "Is everything alright, Barr?"

"I think so. But something crazy just happened."

"Alright. Just give me a second." A couple seconds later Barry could see Joe looking at him, face marred in confusion. "What's this all about?"

"Joe, I have someone I'd like for you to meet. Sebastian?"

Sebastian moves into the shot, giving a small wave to Joe, "Hi, I'm Sebastian."

Joe gapes at the two boys, "Ho-"

"We are both born on January 14. Both born in Central City. I bet if we looked we were both born at the same hospital." Barry states.

"This is not some crazy genetic thing." Sebastian says. "Too many things line up for it to be just genetics. Like how we sound exactly alike in both our talking and singing voices. A lot of our freckles even match."

"Please tell me there's an explanation for this." Barry pleads at Joe.

Joe lets out a sigh, "Barr, your parents expected to have twins. At the hospital the doctor said that they lost one of the twins. I was there with your father and there was another man there waiting for his kid to be born. I accidentally overheard something about that man losing his kid and him pleading with doctor to do something. I also heard something about your parents, Barr."

Joe rubs at his eyes, "I don't know what to say, kid."

Sebastian rummages around with his bag before pulling out a photo, "This is my father. Is this the man from the hospital?"

"It was a long time ago, but yeah, that looks about right."

"Is it possible that my father bribed the doctor?" Sebastian looked shaken.

Joe shrugged, "I don't know what to tell ya. I heard something about donations in there too, but I couldn't even begin to guess what it all was about. Looking back on it, yeah, sure it couldn't have been a bribe to the doctor. Looking at the two of you I'd sure believe that you two were seperated at birth by a doctor that got bribed. Crazier things have happened for less money."

The boys stared at each other, "We're twins." Barry breathed.

"I have a twin." Sebastian looked shell-shocked.

Barry gathered himself up enough to breathe out a quick, "Thanks Joe."

"Don't sweat it kid. I expect to see both of you at Thanksgiving."

"Of course." Sebastian replied, never breaking eye contact with his twin.

Joe smiles to himself as he hangs up the call. The boys continue to stare at each other. "I mean, I kinda knew in my heart that this was the only explanation, but to hear Joe confirm what I thought was true…"

"It's crazy." Sebastian agrees. "There's too much evidence to not say that we're twins." A pause and then. "My parents stole me."

Barry shakes his head, "I don't know what to tell you."

"Tell me about my birth parents. Our parents."

Barry smiles, "I can do that. I mean, Mom died when I was eleven, so I don't have the most stories to tell."

"What happened?" Sebastian looks sad.

"Mom was murdered by a man in yellow lighting. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the honest truth of what I saw that night. Everyone thinks that Dad murdered Mom, but that's not the truth at all." Barry explains.

Sebastian pulls Barry into a hug, "I believe you. Who'd make that up? Even more so, such a strange story."

Barry laughs and Sebastian doesn't comment on how wet it sounded, "Everyone used to think I was crazy."

"Any crazier than having a twin you never knew about?"

"No, I'd say that that's a bit crazier."

Sebastian nods, "Exactly!"

"Thanks for believing me."

"What are twins for?" Sebastian smiles softly, "You're making me soft."

Barry laughs, "That probably is a good thing then. Worse things than having a heart."

"Yeah, I guess." Sebastian agrees. "So are you going to try out for lacrosse?"

"Why would I do that?" Barry asks in confusion.

"Because your brother is like the best at lacrosse and I think that the wonder twins have a lot of lost time to make up on. Terrorizing poor people included."

"Sure, if you can teach me to be decent enough to make the team by tryouts then I'll go for it."

"Excellent." Sebastian states, "We have a week to whip you into shape. I'll just text Nick and Jeff and we'll get started." Sebastian taps away at his phone for a few minutes before saying, "Come on, Niff said that they're up for teaching you now; Warbler auditions just got over."

"Sorry for taking you away from that." Barry sheepishly says.

Sebastians laughs, "Are you kidding me? I'd much rather have found all this out than stay around and listen to a couple more subpar auditions."

"You calling me subpar?" Barry teases.

Sebastian gently shoves Barry, "That would be calling myself subpar, stupid."

"Oh, you're going to be that type of brother." Barry laughs as he stands up and starts digging through his clothing for something suitable to running around in, Sebastian doing the same.

"Hey, lots of time to make up on." Sebastian replies, "Here, catch." He throws a pair of athletic shorts and an old lacrosse jersey at Barry, "You can wear these."

"Thanks." Barry smiles, "I guess one good thing comes out of this."

"What?"

"We're basically the same size so we can just share clothes." Barry explains, eliciting a giggle out of his twin.

Sebastian rolls his eyes as he pulls on his jersey, "That's a pretty good point."

"Does that make me the smart one?"

Barry laughs as Sebastian hurls a pillow at his head, "You wish!"

Before Barry can respond, a knock sounds on the door that Sebastian goes to answer. "Hey guys, come on in, we're still getting changed."

Nick and Jeff walk in and look on in horror at Barry's messy side. Barry is quick to defend himself, "I haven't quite had time to move in."

"He was a bit busy finding out that he had a twin." Sebastian defended.

"So you guys are twins?" Nick asks.

Jeff chimes in, "Like for real, for real?"

"Yes for real!" Sebastian rolls his eyes, "What? Did the two of you think that it was just crazy genetics that allowed us to look so much alike?"

"Uh, possibly?" Jeff's answer sounded like a question.

"Damn." Barry curses, looking at his torn up tennis shoe, "How did this even happen?"

Sebastian rolls his eyes and throws Barry his extra pair, "These the right size?"

Barry nods gratefully, "Yup."

"You're so lucky we have the same everything." Sebastian says fondly.

"What did I say? Being a twin is good for at least one thing." Barry replies.

"Are you two ladies ready to go or what?" Nick asks, getting impatient.

Sebastian just barely contains his scowl, "Yes, yes, we're ready."

"Then let's go!" Jeff says like an excited puppy, pulling at the twins to make them hurry up out of the room.

The four boys pile out the room and onto Dalton's lacrosse field and spend the rest of the day teaching Barry how to play lacrosse, and end the evening by having a group meal with the rest of the Warblers off campus, coming back to their dorm and just hardly making curfew.

"We're going to freak out a lot of teachers." Sebastians says as he studies his schedule compared to Barry's at his desk, "We have practically all the same classes."

"Seriously?" Barry questions from his lounging position on Sebastian's bed.

Sebastian nods, "Yup. Right down to the same gym class and AP History."

"Freaky." Barry comments, "So do we have anything different?"

"Yeah, one class. You're taking Intro Forensic Science and I'm taking Intro Law. But besides that we're going to be with each other for all the other classes."

"Not to mention Warbler practice and if I make it onto the lacrosse team."

"Well, I'm kinda the captain of the lacrosse team…" Sebastian admits.

"Seb!" Barry throws a pillow at his head, "So you're seriously just going to let me on that easy?"

"Hey! We had one empty spot that we didn't already fill with freshmen and I figured lacrosse skill might be genetic."

Barry laughs, "Dork. You could have just asked."

"And would you have said yes?"

Barry shrugs, "Possibly."

"See Barr, there was the chance you would have denied me." Sebastian pouts dramatically.

"Are you sure you don't want to go into acting instead of becoming a lawyer?"

"I'm pretty positive, Barr. Now shoo, I want to get some sleep before class tomorrow."

Barry sighs dramatically, "I guess I could go to sleep too."

"Now who's the drama queen?"

"You must be rubbing off on me." Barry snarks at his brother.

"Go to sleep." Sebastian laughs as he flicks off the overhead light.

"Night, Seb."

Sebastian smiles to himself as he replies, "Night, Barr."


	4. Tricking Teachers

The next morning the twins run around their room getting ready, already pushing it to get to their first class, Barry having forgotten to set the only working alarm in their dorm room. While Barry hurriedly brushes his teeth, Sebastian plucks at Barry's hair, attempting to tame it down. And while Sebastian finishes putting his tie on, Barry shoves the last few items in both of their bags.

Barry shoves Sebastian's bag at him as he scoops up his own and the two hurry out of their room and practically sprint down the halls to their English class. Right as the teacher was getting ready to call role, the twins slide into the classroom and into the empty front row seats that every boy at Dalton knew to try to avoid like the plague.

The teacher and the boys who weren't Warblers stare at Sebastian and Barry in shock, "There's two of them?" One of the boys whispers to his neighbor.

"And here I thought one Smythe was more than enough." Another Dalton boy groans to his friend, eliciting a smirk out of the friend.

"Cutting it close, Mr. Smythe and Mister…?"

"Allen." Barry fills in, "Barry Allen, I'm a transfer student."

"Indeed." The teacher replies as she ticks off Barry and Sebastian's names from the attendance chart.

Sebastian and Barry share a look, laughter hidden behind their bags as they slide them to the floor and get out their textbook. The teacher sternly continues the roll and the class passes in a rather mundane way. Throughout the entire class period, the other boys in the class steal looks at the twins. Once the class period ends, the twins gather up their things, merge with the Warblers, and start on to their next class.

"So what did you think of the bat?" Sebastian asks his brother.

Barry laughs, "She's not that bad."

"You're just being kind." Thad chimes in.

"Well you're not wrong." Barry smiles. "I'm the nice twin. I've only known Seb for a day and I've got that figured out."

"Hey!" Sebastian playfully pushes his brother, "Is that any way to treat your long lost brother?"

"It is when you're being a jerk."

Sebastian snorts, "I'm not pulling a Supernatural and calling you bitch."

The Warblers giggle themselves crazy as Barry pouts and dramatically wails about his brother not loving him enough. "I mean it could become our thing."

Sebastian just shakes his head and laughs, "Well here we are: the Torture Chamber." He gestures towards their shared History classroom.

"I highly doubt it's that bad." Barry looks doubtful.

"You haven't listen to our teacher wax poetry about Greek burial practices for an entire class period." Thad comments dryly.

Jeff shudders, "It was horrifying."

Nick, Sebastian, and the other Warblers who had been present at the time nodded in agreement, "You don't know torture until you've had that happen to you."

Barry rolls his eyes, "Everyone has their obsession, don't be dramatic."

"We tried to warn you." Jeff shrugs as he heads into the classroom, Nick and Thad following close behind.

"HEY SEB!" A voice calls from behind the twins. Sebastian turns around to see who it was and shoos his brother towards the classroom.

"It's a guy from lacrosse, I better field the undoubtedly ridiculous request." Sebastian snarks to Barry, "Just don't get us a crap seat."

Barry salutes him, "You got it!"

"Get outta here!" Sebastian pushes Barry into the classroom, both trying to tame their laughter.

"Ah, Sebastian!" The history teacher greets Barry, "And how was your summer, my boy?"

"Um, it was an alright summer, but sir, my name is actually Barry Allen, not Sebastian." Barry tries to explain to the teacher.

"Nonsense." The teacher dismissed, "I may be old, but I'm not senile, Sebastian. You can't pull that over on me!"

"But-" Barry tries in vain to explain himself.

"No, no, I won't be having any of that, Mr. Smythe. It is way too early in the morning for any of your shenanigans! Now go take a seat, if you will, Mr. Smythe." The teacher shoos Barry towards a seat.

Barry simply sighs and takes an open seat in the middle of the room and plops his bag down so Sebastian could sit next to him. Barry looks over to the other Warblers who give him helpless shrugs back. A few minutes later Sebastian walks into the room and greets the teacher, "Good morning, Mr. Stan."

"Oh, good-Mr. Smythe you've already came into my classroom once this morning. You really can't pull this type of stuff on your first day back or you'll have nothing to do later this year."

Sebastian shoots a look towards Barry, who simply shrugs. "Of course, Mr. Stan." Sebastian gives their teacher a funny look and sits down next to Barry. "He thought you were me?"

Barry nods, "Yup. When I tried to explain he just laughed at me."

Sebastian rolls his eyes, "He's an old coot."

"Seb!" Barry scolds.

"Well he is!"

"No reason to be mean." Barry gives his twin a reproachful look.

Sebastian simply rolls his eyes again and pulls out his tombe of a textbook. Mr. Stan calls the class to order and starts roll. "Adams, Michael."

"Present, sir."

"Good morning Mike. Allen, Barry."

"Present." Barry calmly answers.

"Where?" Mr. Stan questions, "You're the new student."

Barry raises his hand, "Here, sir."

The teacher narrows his eyes as he looks from Barry to Sebastian, "Smythe, you never said you had a brother."

Sebastian shrugs, "I just found out myself yesterday, sir."

Mr. Stan sighs, mutters to himself, and ticks off Barry and Sebastian's names from his list. "Is he always like that?" Barry asks.

"He gets worse as the year goes on. I haven't a clue how he hasn't been fired yet."

"Must have tenure." Barry comments.

"Sadly." Barry snickers at Sebastian's response.

Like the school boys they are, the twins trade notes between themselves and the other Warblers for the duration of the class period while Mr. Stan drones on about the syllabus that took Barry all of two minutes to read through. The other Warblers don't even read the paper that he had handed out after roll had been completed.

The rest of the day goes much the same for the twins. Teachers take another look at the pair. Some with horror in their eyes, some hopefully that new addition will tame Sebastian and the other Warblers, and some resigned to their fate and marking Barry as a trouble-maker much like his brother. "You're a terror." Barry laughs after Sebastian barely escapes from being kicked out of the last class of the day.

Sebastian laughs, "I didn't get kicked out did I?"

"Probably because we switched spots and she couldn't tell which of us was actually you so she could accurately kick you out."

"Well I do thank you for your sacrifice." Sebastian wraps a brotherly arm around Barry, "You have now been labeled as a trouble-maker with the rest of the Warblers. But we'll be unstoppable because no one will ever be able to tell us apart if we simply claim to be each other and then claim to be ourselves."

"You're evil. Oh my god I actually have an evil twin!" Barry looks at Sebastian in mock-horror. "This is like a nightmare."

"Shut up." Sebastian grumbles, giving Barry a push. "You're the worst."

"Then don't drag me into your trouble-making."

Sebastian snorts, "You have my face, I think you'll always be dragged into it."

"Damn."

"Language." Sebastian scolds, a smirk on his face.

"Fuck you." Barry cusses, a blush dusting his cheeks.

Sebastian roars in laughter, "Oh aren't you just a precious kitten when you cuss!"

"Who's a precious kitten?" Jeff asks, catching the end of the conversation as the twins walk into the Warbler practice room.

"Barry." Sebastian grins.

Jeff snickers, "That's basically calling yourself a precious kitten."

Nick nods in agreement, "He has a point, Seb. You two share the same face."

"And apparently they really don't want us to know without work who's who." One of the younger Warblers grumble, "You both just had to wear the same hairstyle."

"I'm sure that was Sebastian's doing." Nick rolls his eyes, "He'd put that hairstyle on anyone that got too close to him."

"It's true. Last year as his roommate was terrible." Jeff complains.

"Hey!" Sebastian grumbles, "I wasn't that bad!"

"You were pretty bad." Jeff counters. "Such a neat freak. Not a sock out of place."

"Just because you like to live in a pig sty." Sebastian sniffs as he takes his place at the head table.

Barry rolls his eyes, "You're such a baby, Jeff."

"And somehow he convinced me to date him." Nick smiles indulgently at his boyfriend.

"Shut up, Niff, no one wants to hear about your disgusting romance." Sebastian grouses.

"He says that lovingly." Barry translates.

Jeff sends Sebastian a dirty look, "Oh, I'm sure."

"Shut up, guys, we really do need to have a proper meeting so the new members know what to expect." Thad scolds the bunch of them. "So, anyways." Thad tries to draw up his dignity, "Today's Warbler practice is called to order."


	5. Sectionals

The next few weeks at Dalton Academy go by without too much drama, besides of course the normal Warbler shenanigans and the twins making up for lost time. Soon enough it was time for the first competition of the season.

"What's so bad about this particular competition?'' Barry asks his brother on the way to the sectionals location.

Sebastian scoffs, "What's so bad is that the New Directions _also_ attend this particular competition. They always give us a run for their money and most of the group has a grudge against me. And now probably you too, since we look the same."

"Gee," Barry replies sarcastically, "thanks for the heads up that an entire _group_ of people will hate me because of my face."

"Ah cheer up Barr!" Nick smiles, "Could be a lot worse."

"How could this situation be any worse?" Barry asks in disbelief, "I'll have no clue who to try and avoid, even more since you don't want us seen together so the surprise stays intact. I could run into them at any second and not know it."

Jeff shrugs, "Fake it 'till you make it."

"I don't know if that really works in this case." Barry replies.

Nick claps his hand on Barry's shoulder, "You'll be fine! I'll stick by you!"

"It'll be pretty obvious if a person has something against you the moment they walk up to you." Sebastian remarks, "Just make a sarcastic remark and walk away."

"Sarcastic quips are your thing, Seb. I suck at making them up on the spot." Sebastian shrugs, causing Barry to roll his eyes and mutter, "Well you're helpful."

"I try." Sebastian smiles innocently.

Before Barry could respond, the bus pulls up to the competition location and Thad calls the Warblers to attention. "Alright guys! This is our chance to show up New Directions, so let's make this a good one! I need everyone in the warm-up room in exactly an hour and for chrissake, _don't be late!_ Use the buddy system if you have to! And twins! Don't be seen together before warm-ups, not even in the warm-up room. You know how everyone and their dog likes to tramp through there when it's not in use." Thad smiles encouragingly at the Warblers, "We'll do great guys, I just know it!"

Sebastian smiles at his brother, who gives him a small one in return. "It won't be so bad. See you in an hour, bro." Sebastian flicks his brother's ear before getting up to exit the bus, Jeff in tow.

Nick turns to Barry and laughs at the stricken look on his face, "This your first time performing in front of people?"

Barry nods, "Yeah, before today the most people I'd sung in front of were you guys."

"You'll be fine. Just pretend to be Seb when you're on the stage and it'll be great! Of course you need to have his confidence because we can't let it show that there's two of you until the final song. I think Thad might go ballistic if his perfect plan goes to shit."

Barry takes a deep breath, "Just act like Seb, I think I can try to do that. At least on stage."

Nick laughs, "I don't think _anyone_ could be him off stage."

Barry cracks a smile, "Dalton couldn't handle more than one of him anyways."

"That's so true!" Nick drags Barry off the bus and into the building, "So there's not actually a lot to do at these competitions unless you're warming up or performing. The rest of the time is pretty boring. Usually we'd watch the competition for a while or we'd all find a place and play cards. If you wanna we can go watch for a bit, get a scope of the competition."

Barry shrugs, "Sure, sounds good to me."

The two boys head towards the auditorium but before they could get there, they were stopped by a short brunette female, a taller Latina, and a boy with impeccable hair but a sour look on his face. "Can we help you?" Nick snaps.

"I doubt _you_ can, but Fieval over there? Absolutely." The Latina responds shortly.

Barry raises an eyebrow but refrains from speaking. "What?" The boy asks sarcastically, "Smythe doesn't have a smart comment for that?"

Barry's other eyebrow raises, "I was just-"

"Hey, Kurt!" A male voice calls, approaching the group, "There you are! I've been looking all over for you, there's- _Smythe_."

Barry's eyes dart towards Nick, wondering how he was supposed to respond to a person when he had no clue who they were. Nick thankfully steps in before Barry had to respond, "Hey Blaine! How's it going?"

"Oh, hey Nick! I didn't see you there! How are you?" Blaine smiles at Nick.

"I'm doing great! What about you?"

"Oh, just a little anxious for this competition, the usual." Blaine cheerily replies before sending a dark look towards Barry. Barry thought he kept his face pretty clear of his confusion and any other emotion towards these people, but Blaine's confused look when Barry didn't reply said otherwise. "Is there something wrong with him?" Blaine asks Nick when Barry doesn't reply or make any of Sebastian's usual sassy comments.

"Oh, he's just-" Nick tries to explain away Barry's reaction when the other female bursts out saying:

"If Smythe is here, then who is that?" She points towards Sebastian where he was laughing at something that Jeff or Thad had just said.

"Shit." Nick muttered to himself, causing Blaine to frown in confusion.

"Nick, what's going on?" Blaine demands of his old teammate.

"Uh, nothing at all!" Nick looked frantic, "Well, we really do have to get going! See ya later Blaine!" Nick practically yells at Blaine as he starts to run away, pulling Barry along after him. "Shit this is not good at all." Nick starts to frantically text Sebastian, Thad, and Jeff to leave the area.

A few minutes later Barry and Nick are joined in the practice room by the other three boys. "What happened?" Thad asks.

"Uh, well, Lopez, Hummel, and Berry approached us and then a few seconds later Blaine joined them and then Berry- Rachel, that is- noticed Seb in the corner behind our Barry and then Blaine started to ask questions and I panicked and Barry wasn't acting like they would expect Seb to, and it's all a mess." Nick spat out in one go.

The others all blinked at the onslaught of words. "So we've been made?" Thad asks finally.

"Well, I don't really think that we've been _made_ made, just that the New Directions might have an idea that something's up." Nick tries to clarify.

Sebastian shakes his head, as if to clear it. "But they still don't really know anything."

Barry nods in confirmation, "They still don't really know anything."

"So we're good. We can still continue our set like there's only one of you until the last song. Besides, it's not like it's a crime to have twins on a team." Thad says, looking at his watch. "The rest of the guys should be here in a few minutes. Twins, seclude yourselves and Seb you need to get Barry acting like you on stage until the rest of the Warblers get here."

The Warblers take the stage and get into position with Sebastian at the apex of the triangular formation for the first song. Looking out into the audience, the New Directions were front and center, staring a hole into the group. The group successfully gets through singing their first two songs in the set, the twins trading places seamlessly, looking like there was only one of them singing. The twin not singing allows his voice to blend into the rest of the Warblers. Thad smiles smugly to himself on how well his plan was going and mentally gives himself a little pat on the back.

At the end of the second song the Warblers move themselves into an unorganized cluster and freeze, their heads hanging down and their arms up in random claw-like positions. Sebastian is positioned at the front of the cluster with his face in plain view while Barry crouches down, also in the front of the group, but his face hidden. A few seconds pass before they burst into the opening notes to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance.' Sebastian looks up and sings the first part but when it gets to the first set of 'Ra Ra's,' Sebastian falls silent and allows Barry to take over the next part. Barry stands up to sing and when the New Directions see double Sebastians, a couple jaws drop.

Rachel hits Kurt in the arm repeatedly, looking fit to burst, Santana clenches her fistslike she was going to cut someone if she didn't restrain herself, and Blaine, while surprised, simply rolls his eyes at the dramatics of how they handled this. He just knew it had to be Thad's idea.

The song continues with the twins trading off the solo parts and two smaller solos going to younger Warblers. The Warblers are grinning themselves silly, having fun with the ridiculous choreography and the upbeat music. The boys dance across the stage in outlandish Lady Gaga style and end their set by stopping their movements abruptly, like someone had just hit the power switch. The Warblers straighten up out of their crouched poses to the crowd's enthusiastic applause with wide grins on their faces. Barry and Sebastian share a quick fist bump before they lead the group in their bows.

With a couple last waves, the Warblers exit stage right and head out to the lobby for a break before the winners of sectionals was announced. A small group of New Directions hastily get up and race out of the auditorium after the Warblers, wanting to demand some answers of them. Rachel, spotting the Warblers milling around first, races over to where the twins were standing and shrilly demands, "What is the meaning of this?"

The Warblers collectively turn around to look at Rachel, carefully blank expressions fixed on their faces.

"The meaning of what, Rachel Berry?" Sebastian drawls, and Barry tries hard to smother his laughter in the background.


	6. Stating the Obvious

_"The meaning of what, Rachel Berry?" Sebastian drawls, and Barry tries hard to smother his laughter in the background._

Rachel gestures between Sebastian and Barry, "I think you know _exactly_ what I mean, Smythe."

Sebastian plays dumb, "I really don't think I do. What is it you're mad at?"

"So are you twins or not?" Rachel demands.

"Duh, we're twins." Sebastian rolls his eyes, "I thought it was pretty damn obvious."

Rachel flushes and Barry never finds out if it was because of anger or embarrassment. "Why didn't we know there were two of you?" Blaine cuts in.

Sebastian shrugs, "Didn't know it either until he walked into Warbler auditions on the first day of this school year."

"You mean to say you had no clue you had a twin?" Kurt clarifies.

"Yes," Sebastian turns his irritated glare on Kurt, "Isn't that what was just established."

"Rude." Kurt huffs.

"Are you always this bitchy or do you pull it out just for us?" Rachel demands.

Sebastian shrugs, "I guess you'll never know."

"Seb." Barry sends his brother a warning glance, "Can we not fight in public? We really should be going back into the auditorium, I'm sure the winners are going to be announced soon."

"That would be too easy, Fivel." Santana snapped at Barry, "I think we need to have a good old-fashioned showdown. I'd sure like to see your face beat in."

"Hey!" Sebastian snaps, "You pick on me, but you leave Barry out of this."

"What?" Santana drawls sarcastically, "Little baby can't handle the heat?"

Sebastian glares at the Latina. "He doesn't deserve to be subjected to you, he's an honest to god nice person."

Santana huffs but backs off after taking another glance at Barry half hidden behind his brother. The rest of the Warblers look ready to draw blood if anyone else made a hurtful comment about Barry. "Oh, _thank you_ , Lopez." Sebastian says sarcastically towards the girl, but his eyes give away how thankful he actually was for her backing off his brother.

Barry touches Sebastian's arm and starts to draw him away, "I'd really like to see the awards ceremony. You know, just in case we are lucky enough to place."

Sebastian's eyes soften even further at his brother's words, "Sure, Barr, I bet we'll have a shiny trophy you can carry back for us."

"Well we won't find out standing here." Barry drags his twin back inside of the auditorium, the other Warblers hot on the twins' heels. The New Directions give Barry a bemused look and slowly follow behind.

"That could have been worse." Jeff states.

"Could have been a lot better." Sebastian snaps. "I almost thought that crazy Lopez was going to cut me."

Nick didn't look worried, "I highly doubt she had anything to cut you with on her."

Thad gives Nick a disbelieving look, "This girl is crazy. I bet she has a pocket knife or something with her."

"It's probably hidden in her hair." Jeff nods sagely.

Barry rolls his eyes, "I highly doubt that, Jeff."

"I don't think you have room to talk since you don't know her." Jeff retorts, "For all you know she could be a crazy lady that's been to juvie five times and always carries at least three pocket knives. Plus a gun if she can get away with it."

"Now you're just being ridiculous." Barry sighs at Jeff's antics.

"Well she _is_ crazy." Sebastian states. "And if she thought she could get away with it, I bet you she would cut me. I've been horrible enough to her friends."

"She doesn't seem exactly innocent herself." Barry retorts.

Sebastian shrugs and settles into his seat in the auditorium. "She's crazy. The entire group of them are."

"It seems like only a couple of them are actively crazy, though." Barry mutters.

"I'd just drop it." Nick advises, "When it comes to the New Directions, Seb is a bit biased and will probably never not be."

"Well it's not like they were all innocent. They've done some mean shit." Jeff hisses.

"I wasn't saying that they couldn't have been more mature too. Everyone is at fault in that situation." Nick concedes. "I was just saying it would be better for Barry if he would just drop it for the moment, Seb will tell Barry more when he feels comfortable enough to do so."

"Hey, shut up." Sebastian snaps, "I'm trying to listen to the announcer."

The other four roll their eyes and turn towards the announcer who was droning on about how amazing all the contestants were and how they all deserved to get a trophy. Soon enough the announcer told the audience the third place winner, a school of little consequence from the further reaches of the Sectionals area. New Directions take second place and Rachel receives her trophy for the group huffily. Sebastian smirks to himself, happy to see the New Directions taken down a notch. Then the Warblers are announced as the winners of Sectionals. The boys go crazy, jumping up and down in place and practically smothering each other in happiness.

The Warblers shove the twins towards the front of the auditorium where they climb the stairs, take a hold of their first place trophy, and send a large smile out towards the audience. On their way back to the other Warblers, Sebastian makes a point to send the New Directions a large smirk. Santana clenches her fist, Rachel angrily huffs and starts to angrily text someone, while Kurt gives Sebastian an icy glare in return. Blaine rolls his eyes at the dramatics of it all, while the rest of the New Directions look on in slight confusion.

"Was that really necessary?" Barry scolds his brother.

Sebastian gives Barry an innocent look, "I haven't a clue what you mean by that."

Barry rolls his eyes, but drops the subject. "So I was told I get to carry this trophy of ours."

Sebastian laughs and hands the trophy over to his brother, "I guess I did say that and as the older brother, I'll be nice."

"I bet I'm the older brother." Barry mutters.

Sebastian grins and wraps an arm around Barry, "Doubtful. You don't have the big brother instinct that I do."

"Yeah right." Barry scoffs, "You're annoying enough, exactly what I'd expect of a younger brother."

Sebastian gives his twin a patronizing look, "You keep telling yourself that and maybe it'll one day be true."

"You're such a-"

"Wonderful human being?" Sebastian teases.

Nick, Thad, and Jeff appear next to the twins, "I'll believe that when I see it." Thad scoffs.

"Oh, please," Sebastian sends the other boy a kissy face, "you love me."

"I'd love to strangle you maybe." Thad snarks back.

"You wound me!" Sebastian throws a dramatic hand to his breast, "I thought we had something!"

"Don't be such a dramatic bitch." Nick laughs, "It's not becoming of you."

"Have you met him?" Barry sasses.

Jeff snorts, "He's got a point, Nicky."

"I thought I told you to never call me that again?" Nick turns an offended look towards Jeff. "We had an agreement."

"I remember nothing of the sort." Jeff replies, sending Barry a smirk behind Nick's back, causing the other three boys to valiantly try and smother their laughter. "In fact, I thought you said you love the nicknames I gave you."

"C'mon guys, the other Warblers are waiting for us." Thad cuts in before the two boys could get going. "I might have promised ice cream to make them get to the bus faster."

Barry laughed, "Well we can't deny them their frozen treat."

"Never say that phrase ever again." Nick seriously tells Barry.

"What?" Barry looks confused, "Frozen treat?"

Nick shudders in horror, "Yes, please never say it again?"

"Why?"

"You don't want to know. Trust me." Sebastian tells his brother, "The memory is too painful for us all."

"Oh-kay?" Barry draws the word out in confusion, "You guys get stranger by the day, I swear."

"Or maybe you're getting more boring by the day?" Jeff counters.

"Whatever." Nick snaps, "Let's get back to the bus before they decide to try and leave us! I want my ice cream!"

"Yes, oh great master!" Jeff salutes.

"Oh shut up!" Nick shoves at Jeff, "I want to hear less talking and see more walking!" The other boys laugh at Nick, but do what he says and hurry towards the Warbler bus and ice cream.


	7. Central City

_"Oh shut up!" Nick shoves at Jeff, "I want to hear less talking and see more walking!" The other boys laugh at Nick, but do what he says and hurry towards the Warbler bus and ice cream._

Several weeks later, days before Dalton Academy breaks for Thanksgiving, Thad still finds himself admiring the trophy that the Warblers brought home from Sectionals. Thad reverently traces a hand over the inscription at the base of the trophy. Sebastian enters the room and snickers once he sees what Thad was doing. "Seriously?"

Thad has the grace to blush, "It's just so pretty."

Barry, who had snuck in behind his brother, outright laughs at Thad. "It's been here for weeks, how are you not used to it?"

"But shiny!" Thad protests.

"That's seriously the explanation that I'd expect from Jeff, not you." Sebastian points out.

"Oh, shut up." Thad grumbles, "Why are you guys here so early anyways? Shouldn't you still be in Chemistry or whatever?"

"Teacher let us out early for some reason." Sebastian shrugs.

Barry pulls out a book and settles into one of the couches, "I think she just wanted to go take a nap. Our class is an absolute nightmare."

Sebastian smirks, "She's my favorite teacher to terrorize."

"Which is a shame, because it's one of my favorite classes. She has a grudge against me, too, because she can't tell us apart." Barry says, irritated at his brother.

"Oh, you love me." Sebastian dismisses.

"Whatever." Barry says before turning back to his book and ignoring Sebastian.

"He's just mad that I ruined the teacher on him." Sebastian whispers to Thad in an overly dramatic voice, "He's just a grumpy cat that needs to lighten up."

"Grumpy cat?" Barry raises an eyebrow, "That's the best you can come up with?"

"I thought you were mad at me?"

"I am." Barry sniffs, once again returning to his book.

Sebastian rolls his eyes, "Play me a game of cards or something Thad, I'm bored."

"I'm not your servant!" Thad snaps with a fond eyeroll. "Fine, what do you want to play?"

"Play him slapjack, you'll always win." Barry advises, "He's terrible at it."

"Then I want to play slapjack." Thad announces.

"You suck." Sebastian grumbles. Though he doesn't want to play the proposed game, Sebastian pulls out a deck of cards and slaps the pack down on one of the tables. "Barr, why do you hate me?"

"Well I could have told him that you're even worse at War." Barry smirks, "Oops, now did I let that slip out?"

"I'm a bad influence on you." Sebastian moans. "I need to be nicer when you're around so you don't become evil."

"I have always said that I have an evil twin." Barry laughs.

Sebastian huffs, "I hate you."

"Love you too, Seb." Barry smiles at his brother.

While Sebastian divides out the cards for their game, Thad checks his phone, "Aw, man." He groans, "Mom's making us go over to my grandfather's for Thanksgiving."

"What's so bad about that?" Barry pulls his head out of his book to ask.

"What's so bad," Thad moans, "is that he's an evil bastard."

Barry raises an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Mostly because he's homophobic and racist and sexist and whatever -ist or -ic that you could possibly be." Thad tells the twins.

Sebastian frowns, "Isn't he the one springing for you to come to Dalton?"

"Yeah." Thad snorts, "And that's what's absolutely hilarious about this situation. Because there's _people of color_ and _gays_ here."

"Well I'd probably hate him then." Sebastian dryly says. "Flaming gay right here."

"Me too." Barry agrees, "My foster family are 'people of color' so that's a no-go on hate on African Americans for me."

"Join the club of people who hate him. You'd think he'd be nicer…." Thad grumbles, "Rich old bastard." The two play a few rounds of Slapjack before Thad breaks the silence by asking, "So what are you guys doing for break?"

"I'm going to Central City with Barry." Sebastian says, "He wants me to meet his foster family."

"And Dad, too, if you're up for it." Barry chimes in, "If you're not, then there's always Christmas break."

"You're going with Barry for Christmas too?" Thad looked surprised.

"My 'parents' are going to Bali for a holiday vacation and they said I'm not allowed to tag along. Well good riddance at that point." Sebastian bitterly says.

"Cheer up! More time with me!" Barry sends his brother a grin, which Sebastian shly returns.

The boys play a few more rounds of Slapjack before the rest of the Warblers stream into the room, filling up the space with noise and disorder. Thad and Sebastian make their way to the front table and draw the meeting to order, once their third council member had joined them.

Thanksgiving break dawns faster than expected. Barry and Sebastian finish packing Sebastian's Range Rover, climb in, and set off towards Central City. "So why a Range Rover?" Barry idly asks, flipping through the radio channels.

Sebastian shrugs, "It pissed my dad off and made my mom giggle hysterically. Dad wanted me to get some douchey car, but I was feeling like pissing his off at the moment."

"Seb!" Barry laughs.

"So how long is this drive again?" Sebastian questions, slapping Barry's hand away and settling on a top charts music station.

Barry checks his phone, "It should be about an hour and a half, so we'll get there right before lunch. Joe said to text him when we get closer so he can take off for his lunch break and Iris is still in school."

"Sucks to suck." Sebastian snorts.

Barry agrees, "Schools in Central are really stupid."

"I thought you wanted to just transfer to the other school in Central instead of going to Dalton?"

"Yeah," Barry sighs, "but then I got the scholarship to Dalton and Joe insisted it would be better for my health."

"Well I, for one, am very happy that you came to Dalton."

Barry gives Sebastian a sappy grin, "Me too."

"Sap."

"I know you are, but what am I?" Barry sing-songs.

Sebastian laughs and turns the radio up higher to block his brother's teasing. After a little over an hour of friendly banter, Sebastian spares his brother a look, "Have you text Joe yet?"

"Huh?"

"We're like twenty minutes away." Sebastian says in fond exasperation.

Barry fumbles for his phone and hurriedly taps out a message to his foster father. "Joe says he'll meet us at our house."

"Address?" Barry rattles off the address and Sebastian takes the next exit. "Excited?"

Barry nods, "Of course I am! I get to see Iris soon!"

"Someone has a _crush_!"

" _Shut up_!" Barry glares at his brother, "Don't you dare mention that in front of Iris!"

Sebastian crosses his heart and sarcastically says, "I do so solemnly swear."

"Mean."

"Whatever." Sebastian rolls his eyes at his brother as he pulls into the driveway of a yellow, two-storey house with cheery white shutters and late, almost dead blooming flowers in the window box. "This is…."

"I know it's not mansion, but it's cozy and it's home." Barry smiles at his twin as they get out of the Range Rover. "I've always loved the way it blooms in the spring."

"It's perfect." Sebastian looks half-awestruck at the house, "Mansions can be interesting, but they never feel like a home."

Barry blushes, "You'll have to bunk with me; I'm technically in the guest room."

"Oh, no, I'll have to share a bed with my twin, whatever will I do?" Sebastian sarcastically drawls.

Barry laughs, shouldering his bag and dragging Sebastian inside of the house. The boys plop their bags down at the foot of the stairs and Barry gives his brother a tour of the main floor and then the upstairs, with a quick detour to drop their bags down on Barry's bed. As they reach the bottom of the stairs, Joe enters the house.

Barry happily bounds over to his foster father and hugs him. Joe smiles warmly at his son, hastily sets down the take-out pizza and wraps his arms around Barry in return, "How've you been, Barr?"

"Wonderful." Barry beams at Joe, "And this, of course, is my twin Seb."

Sebastian holds his hand out for Joe to shake, but instead Joe pulls Sebastian into a hug, "We like hugs in this household."

Sebastian blushes to the tip of his roots, "I couldn't tell."

"You'll get used to it." Joe laughs, "C'mon, I bet you boys are hungry." The twins make hungry sounds of agreement as they follow Joe into the kitchen for lunch.


	8. Science Museum

_" **You'll get used to it." Joe laughs, "C'mon, I bet you boys are hungry." The twins make hungry sounds of agreement as they follow Joe into the kitchen for lunch.**_

After lunch, Joe heads back to the station for the rest of his shift. "Don't get into trouble." Joe sternly tells the twins, "And don't go anywhere I wouldn't want you going."

Barry nods his understanding, "Of course, Joe."

Joe ruffles their hair once more before heading out the door. Sebastian grumpily, albeit pleased, moves his hair back into place. "So what's to do in Central?"

"There's a mall?"

Sebastian laughs, "Anything else?"

"Movies? Or there's an arcade...there's a couple of cool museums." Barry lists off.

"Man this place sounds lame."

"Eh, it's a Monday, nothing is open really during the school year." Barry shrugs.

Sebastian thinks through the options, "How about one of those 'cool museums' that you mentioned?"

"Awesome! There's this amazing new exhibit that I've been wanting to see at the science museum…"

"C'mon, nerd, let's go." Sebastian ushers Barry out the door.

The twins buy their tickets and head into the main part of the exhibit hall. Barry spends most of his time cooing over the projects on display and the rest of his time pulling Sebastian around from place to place. Sebastian simply rolls his eyes and lets his brother drag him around, spending most of his time playing on his phone, taking selfies and Snapchatting them to other Warblers. Every now and again Sebastian actually takes the time to read the information that goes along with the exhibit if it was interesting enough.

Eventually Barry takes too much time at one particular exhibit, totally enthralled with what it was showing. Sebastian wanders off down the hall and to an exhibit that has enough to do with music to capture his attention. Neither twin notice a rather large group walk into the hall, led by a preppy museum guide. "And this is exhibit hall B and where I leave your group for the day. It was wonderful to have you visit us here." The guide smiles at her group of bored high school students before walking off. The science teacher waves her students off, giving them a time that they absolutely have to be back at the bus by.

The twins are still absorbed in their exhibits, Barry down the hall and Sebastian in the thick of the group of high school students. Sebastian turns from the exhibit and is subjected to varying looks from the public school students. Sebastian gives the students who stare too long a glare before moving on to the next vaguely music related exhibit. Sebastian takes his phone out, smirks at a snap that Nick and Jeff sent him, and then sends an ugly snap back to them.

After a few minutes of high school students pretending to be interested in the exhibits, a girl a few feet away from Sebastian nudges her companion, "Isn't that your foster brother?" She asks.

Another girl next to them nods in agreement, "Yeah, that sure does look like Barry, Iris."

"What!? Where?" Iris demands of the other two girls.

The first girl points towards Sebastian, "Him."

Iris' jaw drops, "That is him! I'm going to go talk to him!" Iris hustles over to Sebastian. Placing her hands over Sebastian's eyes, she practically squeals, "Guess who?"

"Um, some crazy chick that's hugging me?" Sebastian guesses, tone heavy with sarcasm.

Iris laughs and takes her hands off of his face, allowing Sebastian to turn around. "Me!" Iris smiles happily at Sebastian.

Sebastian continues to look at Iris as if she's crazy. "Who?"

"Oh, ha ha! You think that since you haven't seen me since the end of summer you can pull that type of joke. Well it's not that funny." Iris rolls her eyes playfully.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Iris. You know, your best friend?" Iris sighs, as if Sebastian being the mysterious one.

"I really do think you have the wrong person." Sebastian tries to look apologetic rather than annoyed. "I don't know anyone by that name."

Iris' eyebrows raise, "Wow. How far are you willing to take this joke, Barr?"

"Barr?" Sebastian starts to understand, "I'm not Barry."

"Of course you are!" Iris shakes her head, "Who else would you be? His evil twin?"

Iris' teacher comes forward towards the two of them and without looking up from her clipboard asks, "I'm sorry, is my student-" The teacher then looks up and a look of recognition flashes across her face, "Oh, how are you Barry, dear?"

"I'm really sorry, you don't understand. I'm not Barry-"

"Barry, this isn't funny anymore." Iris snaps. "Did Dalton make you lose your memory?"

"Look," Sebastian tries to explain once more before seeing Barry walk up towards the trio and other students who are eagerly watching from the sidelines, thinking Barry Allen had finally gone crazy.

"Hey Seb, I think I saw a sign for that exhibit that you wanted to-" Barry looks in confusion at the group surrounding his brother. "What on earth is going on?"

"I don't know!" Sebastian practically wails, "They all came up to me, surrounded me without mercy and started questioning me!"

Iris turns around and spots Barry. "What on earth?"

The teacher and the other classmates spend a few seconds glancing between the twins in utter confusion. "There's two of you?" One of Iris' friends finally asks.

"That is the idea of twins." Sebastian snaps irritably, "There's two for the price of one."

Barry laughs, "Don't mind Seb, he's just unhappy that there's nothing music related in this museum."

"Music makes everything better." Sebastian mutters.

"It's a science museum, not a music one."

"Whatever."

Barry rolls his eyes in amusement, "Anyways, Iris, I'm Barry and this is Sebastian, my twin."

"Since when have you had a twin?" Iris demands, an irritated and hurt look crossing her face.

"Well, I would hazard a guess and say since our birth." Sebastian drawls sarcastically.

"Don't mind him." Barry rolls his eyes, "He's the evil one. And _yes_ , since birth. We were seperated at birth and met at Dalton. We're actually roommates which is pretty good dumb luck I'd say."

"Yes, yes, good luck. Now all of you can scram, it's not a soap opera." Sebastian practically growls at the gathered students.

"That is a good idea, it's almost time to leave for the end of the school day." The teacher starts to herd the students back towards the front of the museum. "You too Iris, I'm sure you'll see plenty of Barry and his brother once Thanksgiving break starts."

" _Fine_." Iris mutters, "And you better explain _everything_ in great detail when I get home." Iris threatens the twins. Iris pulls Barry into a tight hug before scampering off after her teacher.

"That was a terrible way to end our visit." Sebastian grumbles, "Getting mobbed by a bunch of public school kids looking to terrorize an innocent museum-goer."

"Oh stop being so dramatic." Barry rolls his eyes.

"How do you like being attacked from behind by a crazy chick you've never met before?"

"Fine, point." Barry grudgingly allows, "S'pose it's my fault for not showing you Iris' picture."

"C'mon, let's get going. I think she might actually kill us if we're not there when she gets back. She seems the type." Sebastian comments, ignoring the second part of what his brother said, not wanting to play any version of the blame game.

Barry laughs, "Oh, you're catching on pretty fast!"

"Sadly."

Barry continues to laugh as he drags his twin out of the museum.


	9. The Hospital Trip

_Barry continues to laugh as he drags his twin out of the museum._

Barry and Sebastian make a quick stop for ice cream before making their way back to the West house. "Iris is always more agreeable if there's ice cream involved."

"Like not immediately telling her that you have a twin?"

"I honestly thought that Joe would tell her."

"Apparently he figured you'd do it." Sebastian shrugs, "Why didn't you tell her?"

"How are you supposed to tell someone that 'hey! Apparently I have a twin that I never knew about because my parents thought he was dead and some doctor got paid off by my twin's parents to give him to them.'?" Barry raises his eyebrows, "That's not really something you just spring up in casual conversation to someone over the phone."

"I'll remember you fondly if she murders you."

Barry laughs, "Gee, thanks!"

"It's the least I could do." Sebastian shrugs, "I'm sure we'll get along great, Iris and I."

"Shut up!" Barry shoves his brother in the shoulder as they walk into the house. Barry grabs the carton of ice cream from Sebastian's hands and makes his way into the kitchen. Barry shoves the ice cream into the freezer and then ambles back into the living room to flop down on the couch next to his brother.

Sebastian wrestles the channel changer away from Barry and flips through the station until he settles on an old sitcom. "So what do you think Nick and Jeff are up to?"

"Weren't you Snapchatting them all afternoon?"

"Well yeah, but mostly they were pictures of their ugly faces."

"Sebastian!" Barry scolds.

"No!" Sebastian defends himself, "I mean they were snapping me ugly selfies!"

"Whatever." Barry rolls his eyes.

Sebastian sighs dramatically, "Oh the woes of being the evil twin."

Barry laughs, "You're so dramatic!"

"Well someone has to be! Life would be boring without all the drama."

Before Barry could reply, Iris walks into the living room with a glare on her face. "I still can't believe that you didn't tell me you had a twin." Iris glares at Sebastian.

"You do know that you're glaring at Sebastian, right?" Barry asks.

"Well now I do." Iris grumps and turns her glare onto the correct twin. "You owe me for this, Barr."

"I brought ice cream?"

"My favorite?"

"Nothing but the best for you." Barry sends Iris a brilliant smile.

Iris softens, "You're still not out of trouble, but since you _did_ bring ice cream…."

"You'll forgive me?"

"For the moment." Iris allows as she moves towards the kitchen and ice cream. "So what's it like? Sharing a face with someone else?"

Barry shrugs, "It's not so bad...when he's not being an ass about it."

"Hey! I am a perfect gentleman." Sebastian acts snooty.

"He likes to get us into trouble. I think he likes doing it mostly because they really can't tell us apart when we're in our uniforms so neither of us can get into trouble." Barry mock-whispers to Iris, "He just can't help himself. He's lucky he has a twin or else he would have had at least twenty detentions."

"I resent that." Sebastian glares, "But you're totally correct."

Barry snorts in amusement, "He's also a total drama queen."

Sebastian sticks his tongue out at Barry and swipes the carton of ice cream to dip himself out a scoop. "You love me."

"I guess."

Iris giggles, "You two are too adorable!"

"Smythes are not _adorable_. Handsome or swoon-worthy are much more acceptable phrases to attach to us." Sebastian huffs in mock-anger. "Why the last person to call me _adorable_ now languishes in a cell on a far-away island."

Iris is overcome with helpless laughter and Barry just rolls his eyes, "Okay, we get it Mr. Overlord." Barry gives Sebastian a small smile, "You're not an adorable puppy."

"Who said anything about puppies?" Sebastian continues to try and look offended, almost on the brink of laughing along with Iris.

Before Barry could reply, Iris' phone lets out a shrill ring which has her scrambling to answer. "Hello?"

The twins watch Iris' facial expressions as she listens to the person on the other side of the phone. She goes through shock, disbelief, and then finally resignation. Sebastian and Barry share a worried look. Iris finally hangs the phone up and looks at the twins, her eyes slowly filling with tears, a far cry from the happiness of only a few minutes ago. "What happened?" Barry tentatively asks.

"Dad….Dad is in the hospital. They say it's nothing too serious, just run of the mill injuries for a police officer, but he could have been killed. The bullet went through his shoulder, but any farther…."

Barry pulls his foster sister into a hug, "We'll drive you to the hospital and we can all visit Joe."

"That sounds good." Iris nods her agreement, "Let me go get my jacket…"

Once Barry had nodded his agreement, Iris rushes off up the stairs with both boys staring holes into her back in concern. "She seems strong, she'll be alright." Sebastian tries to reassure Barry, "And Joe seems equally as strong."

Barry puffs out his cheeks, "Yeah, I know, But it's just a scary thought."

Sebastian pulls Barry into a quick hug, "He'll get some stitches and then I'm sure he'll be home for Thanksgiving."

Barry nods, "Yeah….I hope so."

"He _will_." Sebastian sounds certain.

"How are you so sure?"

"It's easier to be sure when you don't really know the person." Sebastian offers by way of explanation.

Barry heaves a sigh, "This is not what I had planned when you came home with me."

Sebastian pulls Barry into a side-hug, "It'll work out." He promises, "You'll see."

Barry pulls his brother into a proper hug and Sebastian lets him, knowing that he needed the comfort so he could be strong later for Iris. A few minutes later, seconds before Iris came pounding back down the stairs, the twins break their hug and Barry wipes viciously at his eyes.

"Ready?" Iris demands.

Barry nods. "Yeah, ready."

"I'm driving." Sebastian announces, twirling his keys around his fingers. The other two nod in agreement. Sebastian leads the two out to his vehicle and makes the drive to the hospital under Barry's careful instruction. They pull into the visitor lot, climb out, and a few minutes later find themselves standing in front of the secretary.

"Can I help you?" The older lady asks in a no-nonsense tone.

"Yes." Iris says, "Where can I find Joe West?"

"The cop?" The lady clarifies.

Iris nods in irritation. " _Yes_ , the cop." She waspishly answers.

The secretary raises her eyebrows, but doesn't comment. "Room 302, but only family is allowed up." She says the second part after taking a glance at the twins who are mismatched from Iris.

"I'm his daughter and these are my foster brothers." Iris proclaims in a challenging tone, "They're family."

The secretary's eyebrows raise even further but she waves them on towards the elevator. "Visitor hours are over at six pm."

"Thank you." Barry says before dragging Iris along with him to the elevator, Sebastian trudging along behind silently.

"Uh huh." The secretary responds, going back to her typing.

The three take a silent trip up two floors to level three and then an equally silent walk down the sterile hallways until they find the room that Joe is in. Iris flies into the room with the twins following at a much more sedate pace. Iris has settled herself on the edge of her father's bed, fussing over his pillow while Joe gives his daughter an indulgent smile. Joe turns when the twins amble in and gives them a reassuring grin.

"How're you feeling?" Barry asks, only to wince at how dumb he thought he sounded.

Joe gives him an equally indulgent smile, "I'm juiced up on pain meds, I'm feeling fine, Barr."

"Good!" Barry enthuses, "That's….good."

Sebastian barely hides a snort at how ridiculous his brother was being. "You're making me one hell of a story to tell." Sebastian dryly quips.

Joe raises an eyebrow in amusement, "Not exactly what you had in mind when you came for Thanksgiving?"

"Oh, no." Sebastian states, "This is much more exciting."

Iris weakly glares at Sebastian, only to be soothed by her father stroking a hand down her back. "I'm fine, Iris." He mutters, "It's just a flesh wound, nothing is too damaged that a little bed rest can't fix."

"It could have been worse." She says petulantly,

"I know." Joe reassures, "But the doctors know what they're saying when they tell me I'll be back at it soon enough."

Barry nods in agreement, "Believe the doctors."

"Oh, right," Comes Iris' scathing reply, "like how we should believe that your father is innocent." Barry gasps, hurt. Iris immediately regrets what she said, "Barry, you know that I didn't mean that. I'm just super stressed and I don't really know what's coming out of my mouth-"

"No," Barry gives her a tight smile, "I do think you knew what you were saying." Barry flees the room after he said his piece.

Sebastian sends Iris a cold glare before running after his brother, leaving Iris alone with her father. Joe sends his daughter a reprimanding look, "I know that you're stressed, but that's no reason to take it out on Barry."

Iris allows a few tears to streak down her cheeks. "I know that was totally horrible of me."

Joe sighs as he wipes away the tears, "Let him calm down and then go talk to him."

"I didn't really mean it." Iris whimpers.

"I know." Joe hugs Iris to his good side.

Actions

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	10. Comfort and Pizza

_"No," Barry gives her a tight smile, "I do think you knew what you were saying." Barry flees the room after he said his piece._

"Barry!" Sebastian calls after his brother in the deserted hall, "Barry!"

"What?" Barry sneers, pulling Sebastian with him into an empty room. Barry slides down to the floor and Sebastian follows suit. "What do you want? To tell me something horrible too?"

"No. Never." Sebastian gently promises. Barry angrily wipes at the tears running down his cheeks and curls deeper into himself on the floor. Sebastian slides closer to his brother and wraps an arm around him. "What she said was out of line."

"She didn't really mean it." Barry pathetically defends Iris.

"It still doesn't give her the right to throw that in your face, even if she didn't mean it." Sebastian corrects, "And you shouldn't feel obligated to protect her or even forgive her until she has seen what she's done wrong and apologized."

"But-"

"No." Sebastian firmly states, "She needs to be in a rational state of mind when she apologizes so she knows what she did."

Barry deflates against Sebastian's side. "It's just so easy to cave and defend her; brush off what she did."

"And that's not good for your health. You can't be a push-over to her or she might start abusing that. She might already abuse that and that's not any good for your mental health." Sebastian tries to pull Barry closer to his side, "Actually, I think it's excellent that you're at Dalton with me. It gets you away from all the bad connotations of Central."

"But Central is home…"

"I didn't say it wasn't." Sebastian gently agrees, "But I'm just saying that it's probably good for you to be away from this place for most of the year. At least until after you graduate college."

"I know that you're right…" Barry trails off.

Sebastian shrugs, "I know it can be hard to leave a place. I grew up mostly in Paris with my mother's family. That man who claims to be my father drug me away from there and brought us here to America because of his precious company. Though I am glad that it brought me you."

"Sap." Barry smiles at his brother, "You're a big sap."

"Oh shut up." He says without heat.

Barry curls into his brother and gives him a proper hug, "Thank you."

"That's what I'm here for." Sebastian shrugs off his thanks. "Now come on, let's go back to the room and tell them that we're heading home for the evening. Iris can stay or go with us."

"I don't know if…"

Sebastian raises an eyebrow, "You can face Iris at the moment?"

"Yeah…"

"You're gonna have to at some point." Sebastian points out.

"I guess." Barry concedes. "Let's go then."

Sebastian pulls Barry up after himself and gently leads them back to Joe's room. Iris tries to hug-attack Barry as soon as he enters the room, but backs off after a glare from his twin. Barry shrugs at Iris and proceeds to ignore the room in favor of his phone. "Barry and I are heading back to the house." Sebastian informs the Wests.

"I should be able to get out tomorrow afternoon." Joe informs the twins, "So I think you should go back to the house with the boys, Iris. Order in a pizza and watch a movie or something." Joe gently nudges his daughter, "I'll be fine."

Iris looks torn, but finally caves to her father's wishes. "But I'll be back tomorrow bright and early."

"You have school." Joe threatens, "I won't have you missing out on a day of classes just because some guy got a cheap shot on my arm."

"But-"

"No." Joe lays down the law, "I'll still be here- or at home on the couch- when you get released for Thanksgiving break."

"Fine." Iris mumbles before giving her father another hug.

Barry darts in to give Joe a hug while Sebastian gives the older man a kind smile from his position in front of the doorway. "Better get going or the nurses will kick us out." Sebastian jokes, earning weak chuckles from the others.

The twins and Iris give Joe a final farewell and head out of the hospital and climb into Sebastian's vehicle. On the way back to the West house, Iris calls in for a couple pizzas so they make a pit stop at the pizza place before they finally pull into the house's drive. Barry creeps out of the car and into the house, hiding himself upstairs in his bedroom before Iris has a chance to say anything else to him. Sebastian shrugs at Iris and takes their pizzas up to the room with him.

"Hey." Sebastian calls as he steps into the room. "What's up?"

"I can't deal with Iris' puppy dog eyes anymore. She's been giving them to me since we stepped back into Joe's room."

Sebastian glares angrily at the door, "She really has no room to be guilting you."

"Seb…" Barry sighs, tired. "Can we just eat the pizza and go to sleep?"

"Yeah, sure, that sounds good." Sebastian easily agrees, pulling the greasy pizza boxes up to the desk and handing a slice to his brother. "Looks like she knows your favorite."

Barry rolls his eyes, "I'm sure she's trying to make up for what she said."

"Well, it's a start." Sebastian snaps.

"She was just upset…"

"We're not going there again." Sebastian tells his brother, "We've been over this and I'm standing strong by what I've said and it seems like you've already taken some of it to heart."

Barry sighs again, "I'm a push-over by nature."

"Then we'll just have to get you thicker skin when it comes to family. I just don't want to see you hurt is all."

"Thank you, Seb."

"Like I've said before, it's what brothers are for." Sebastian smiles over at Barry before shoving his slice of pizza in his mouth. "Now c'mon, what do you have in your Netflix que? I need to watch something or else I think I'll go crazy!"

Barry laughs at his brother's dramatics. "Well I have this nature documentary that I've been wanting to watch…" He pleads hopefully.

"Fine, you nerd, we'll watch your nature documentary."

Barry gives Sebastian a beaming smile, "Awesome!"

Barry drags his laptop up to the bed and the twins settle in for a couple hours of a bland narrator voice describing the wonders of the Amazon.

Early the next morning the twins wake up with bits of pizza in their hair, the laptop dead at their feet and the two of them smushed together in a huge pile of boy. Barry tries to dislodge Sebastian from his arm, but ends up sending his brother to the floor. Barry peeks over the edge to look at a grumpy Sebastian. "Was that really necessary?" He grumbles.

"Sorry!" Barry sends doe eyes towards the other boy, "My arm was asleep and I was just trying to get it out from under you!"

Sebastian huffs and picks himself up off the floor, "I guess I can forgive you."

"Oh thank you Sebby, you don't know how much that means to me!" Barry simpers, a smirk firm on his face. Barry promptly stands up from the bed and makes his way towards the hall bathroom.

"Shut up you little brat!" Sebastian throws at his brother's retreating back, causing Barry to giggle in amusement as he dodges the projectile. Sebastian groans and smothers his smile with another pillow before he gets up and starts to get dressed. A few minutes later the two tramp down to the kitchen and Sebastian pulls out some food to make them both breakfast with the sounds of the light rain that had just begun to fall making for rather soothing background noise.

Barry smashes his head down on the counter and watches as Sebastian moves around the room. "I still feel terrible about the Iris thing."

"You really shouldn't, it's her fault."

"I know." Barry sighs, "And I think that's why I feel even worse."

Sebastian turns around to give his brother a look, "That's not healthy for you Barr."

Barry groans, "I knoooooow!"

Sebastian sighs and puts down the egg carton. "I don't know what else to tell you."

"Just keep telling me that I shouldn't feel guilty because it's not my fault."

"That," Sebastian cracks a smile as he says, "I can do."

The boys share a quiet breakfast and an equally quiet dish duty. "So are we going to visit Joe?" Sebastian asks his brother, ignoring the loud crash of thunder.

Barry shrugs, "That sounds good. He can tell us when he gets out and we can go from there."

Sebastian nods, "Alright. Go get your shoes on and I'll find my keys."

As the two are walking out the door, Sebastian following his brother with an umbrella that Barry had forgotten, the storm slightly picks up from when they had woke up. Sebastian turns around to lock the house door and Barry stands just off the porch in his drenched hoodie. Another crack of thunder causes Sebastian to jump and drop the keys before he could get the door to lock and then laugh at himself for being so silly. Another crack sounded only a minute after the last. This one was deafening, like it was right over them.

When his ears stopped ringing, Sebastian turned around to check on his brother. What he saw stopped him in his tracks.


	11. Lightning Struck

_When his ears stopped ringing, Sebastian turned around to check on his brother. What he saw stopped him in his tracks._

Sebastian races to his brother, who was spread out on the ground, slightly smoking. Seeing that Barry was still breathing, Sebastian whips out his phone and dials 911. "911, what is your emergency?"

"My brother has just been struck by lightning!" Sebastian cries, on the verge of hysteria, into the phone.

"Sir, please stay calm and give me your address." Sebastian rattles off the address for the operator who replies in an even voice, "Stay where you are and a first responder will be there shortly."

Sebastian nods, but realizing that the operator can't see him, says, "Yes, of course."

"Alright, sir, the first responder has left the station. I'm going to leave the line now."

"Yes, of course." Sebastian faintly repeats, shutting the call off in a daze. Sebastian sits there for several minutes, watching his brother breathe, until the first responders appear, sirens blaring.

Sebastian watches the first responders move around his twin in a haze. The last thing he remembers is Barry being loaded into the ambulance before he passes out. Sebastian comes to in a sterile hospital room with monitors beeping in the background. Iris is sitting next to his bed and Joe was standing behind her, checking his phone. "Oh! You're awake!" Iris says happily, a small smile playing on her lips.

Sebastian jerks up in a panic, "Where's Barry!? Where's my twin?"

Iris gently pushes him back towards the bed, but Sebastian simply shrugs her off. Joe then moves forward and tugs Sebastian back towards the bed. "Barry is in a coma. He's on the other side of this curtain. They didn't want to take you too far away from him." Joe curtly explains.

Sebastian turns his panicked eyes towards Joe, "A coma? Will he wake up?"

"They have high hopes that he will come out of it." Joe, while just as upset as Sebastian, hides his fear better. "They say he got lucky when it came to being struck."

Sebastian, despite Joe's protests, climbs out of the bed, pushes past the privacy curtain, and settles himself in the chair next to Barry's bed. Sebastian sets his head on the bed beside Barry, taking his twin's hand in his own. "It's going to be okay little brother."

Iris hugs her father and shares a concerned look with him. Joe hugs her back before pulling away to set a hand on Sebastian's shoulder. Sebastian shrugs the hand off and further settles onto his perch. Searching his pockets, Sebastian pulls out his phone and starts to compose a message to send to the Warblers. "Can you give me some space?" Sebastian asks the Wests.

Joe eyes Sebastian before curtly nodding, "Iris and I will be right out in the hallway if you need us."

"But-" Iris starts to protest.

"Iris." Joe says, warning thick in his voice. Iris falls silent and follows without further protests, though the frown on her face shows what she really thinks of leaving Barry and Sebastian alone in the room.

Sebastian dials the phone and calls Nick and Jeff who were on vacation together. An hour later Sebastian has finally finished calling all the Warblers and telling them what had happened, promising to send email updates once more was known. Sebastian heaves a sigh and tightens his hold on Barry's hand. As if sensing he was done, Joe and Iris make their way back into the room.

"How you holding up?" Joe softly asks Sebastian.

"Horribly." Sebastian honestly answers, "I feel like I'm going to burst into tears at any moment."

Iris smiles softly at him, "It's not like we'd judge."

Sebastian huffs out a laugh, "Yeah, I know." A few moments of silence pass before Sebastian asks, "Joe, how are you feeling, I haven't asked."

"Physically my arm is a little sore, but nothing a little rest won't cure." Joe answers, ignoring anything but his physical pain for the moment.

Iris allows herself to give her father a look, causing him to sheepishly pull up a chair and plop down in it between the two teenagers. Iris nods in approval and settles even deeper into her chair. A few moments later a nurse appears in the room. "Hi guys, just here to check on his vitals."

The nurse putters around the room for a few minutes before leaving them there to wait for Barry to wake up. About an hour later the same nurse appears to once more take the vitals. "Visiting hours are almost up." She informs the three, "After hours only one person is allowed to stay with the patient as long as they don't prove a distraction to the staff."

The three nod in understanding and the nurse once again leaves, satisfied. "You'll stay." Joe tells Sebastian, "You're his twin and I have a feeling he'd want you to be here with him so long as you promise to try and catch a nap while you're waiting."

Sebastian shrugs, "I guess I can try."

Joe squeezes Sebastian's shoulder. "We'll bring you a change of clothes for tomorrow and some breakfast."

"Thank you." Sebastian hardly looks up as he responds, voice muffled against the hospital bed.

Joe nods and leads Iris out of the room. Iris sighs, "I really don't want to leave him there by himself."

"Only one person." Joe gently explains again.

"He shouldn't have to wait there by himself."

"I'm not disagreeing, Iris. But those are the rules and he deserves to be there as Barry's twin."

"They've only known each other for a couple months." Iris grumpily says.

Joe shoots Iris a disappointed look, "If you can't see how close those two are…"

Iris sighs again, "I know. I just feel like I'm being replaced."

"Iris, I don't think that's what's happening at all. Barry found out he has more family than his father left. He's happy that he has a brother, but you will always be his sister. Gaining a brother doesn't change the bond that you two share. If anything it makes it more special."

Iris gives her father a small smile, "Thanks Dad."

"Anytime." Joe pulls Iris into his side and leads her down to his police cruiser.

Thanksgiving comes and goes and Barry is still not awake yet. The medical staff are getting anxious, citing that with Barry's excellent health he should have been awake sooner. Sebastian hardly leaves Barry's side, leaving only to go to the restroom, change clothes upon Joe's insistence, and to take a short walk down the hallway a couple times, otherwise Sebastian is glued to his twin's side.

Though Joe isn't thrilled with how well Sebastian is taking care of himself, he makes sure Sebastian eats and changes his clothes daily. The day that the boys were supposed to return to classes, Joe makes a call over to Dalton to tell them what happened to Barry. Dalton is understandably accommodating for Barry, and even Sebastian, but the secretary tells Joe to send documentation from the hospital on Barry's behalf. "Also, I will not be able to clear Sebastian of classes from your word alone. His legal guardians need to make that call. If Sebastian is not back by week's end without any notice from his legal guardians, we have to take measures, I'm sorry."

Joe sighs, heart heavy, "You're not going to get Sebastian to leave his twin's side until Barry wakes up."

"I understand that, I truly do. I have a twin myself and that's exactly what I would do." The secretary sounds sympathetic, "But the rules are the rules and if he's not back by this Friday then he can face expulsion from Dalton."

"Thank you for your understanding of Barry's situation and for the information for Sebastian." Joe tells the secretary.

"You are very welcome." The secretary hangs up the phone and Joe continues to hold the dead phone line to his ear.

Hesitantly, Joe makes his way back into Barry's private room to talk to Sebastian. "They say that you can face expulsion if you're not back by Friday afternoon without your legal guardians making a call for you."

Sebastian slumps even more in his chair. "That would require calling them."

"Are they back from vacation?"

"Yes." Sebastians sighs, "Probably back in Westerville."

"You should call them unless you want to get expelled and you know how Barry would glare at you if you got yourself kicked out of Dalton because of him."

"I know." Sebastian mumbles. "I'll call my mother, she's most likely to let me stay here."

Joe claps a hand on Sebastian's shoulder before once again heading out of the room. Right before he could fully exit, Joe tells Sebastian, "I'll be right out in the hall if you need me."

"Thanks Joe." Sebastian gives the older man a tired smile. Sebastian plays with his phone for several moments before he finally gives in and calls his mother.

"Moira Smythe." A cool voice answers on the second ring.

"Hey Mom."

"Hello, sweetie. Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Sebastian rubs at his eyes. "Could you please come to Central City?"

"Honey, why?"

"Mom, please, it's important."

Moira sighs on the other side of the line, "Alright, what's the address."

Sebastian rattles off the address of the hospital, "And for the record, I'm not the one that's hurt." Sebastian then hangs up the phone and slumps even further into the large chair.

Several hours later Sebastian's phone rings and he tiredly picks it up, "Hello?"

"Sebastian Smythe! Why did you have me drive to a hospital?"

"Are you in the lobby?"

"Yes, but Sebasti-"

"I'll be right down." Sebastian cuts in before hanging up and ignoring his mother's attempts to call him again. Sebastian looks towards Joe, "She's here. I'm going to go get her and bring her up."

"I'll be right here." Joe promises from the window seat where he had been doing paperwork for the past few hours.

Sebastian nods once again at Joe before disappearing. Several minutes later Sebastian and stunning women arrive back in the rom. Joe takes a few moments to survey the women, as she does the same to him. The lady standing in front of him was everything that Joe would be attracted to: hazel eyes, dark brown hair that shimmered in the light, dark skin that was marred only by a beauty mark. Sebastian looked nothing like the woman that raised him. "Joe, this is my mother, Moira Smythe."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Joe West."

The woman smiles, showing off her straight, white teeth. "Charmed." Turning to her son, Moira demands, "Why have you brought me here?"

Sebastian mutely points towards the bed where Barry lay, "That's why."

Moira turns to the bed and starts in surprise when she sees her son's face replicated on the boy on the bed. "Who is this?"


	12. Accusations and DNA Testing

_Moira turns to the bed and starts in surprise when she sees her son's face replicated on the boy on the bed. "Who is this?"_

" _This_ ," Sebastian hisses, "is my twin: Barry. Your husband stole me from my family when your real child was a stillborn." Moira looks horrified as Sebastian continues to speak. "We think he bribed the doctor, bought me off some poor family who was expecting twins but only went home with one. I was supposed to grow up with my brother, my _twin_. I don't blame you," Sebastian continues, "It's not like you knew. You figured I just looked a lot like my father. Except that I really don't do I? I don't look like you and I don't look like that man who wants me to call him _father_. I look just like Barry and we both look just like our dad when he was our age."

Moira dabs underneath her eyes, sweeping away the tears that had gathered there, "Why would you do this to me Sebastian?"

" _Do this to you?_ " Sebastian hisses in anger, "My twin was just _hit by lightning_! I just want permission with Dalton to stay here with him so I don't get expelled from there!"

"Your father-"

"He's not my father!" Sebastian spat out angrily.

" _Your father_ ," Moira stressed, "is a good man! He wouldn't do something like that! How dare you accuse your father with this foolishness! Now you apologize to this nice man and that boy for making them play along with your little plot!"

Sebastian looked at Moira in shock, "I am _not_ making this up! You think I payed this man off?"

Moira scoffed, "You always have liked to cause trouble."

Sebastian's jaw ticked in anger, "I'm not playing some game! This is my honest to god twin who was honestly struck by lightning a few days ago. He's been in a coma ever since and there's no sign of him waking up any time soon!"

Moira stares intently at her son, "You really believe that that boy lying there is your twin?" Sebastian nods. "Then you wouldn't be against comparing your blood works against his?"

"Do it." Sebastian dares her, "Then you'll see the truth."

Moira smirks, "If it will get you to drop this foolishness, then yes, we will do the blood test. I'll go call my doctor."

"You will do no such thing." Joe finally snaps, "Barry is my foster son and I won't have him touched by anyone but his doctor."

"Fine." Moira snaps, "But do it quickly, I have other things to do with my time than clear up this foolishness. I hope my son is paying you a pretty penny to play along with this charade."

Joe raises an eyebrow in disbelief, but walks off all the same to find a doctor to do the testing, phoning his detective partner as he did so. "Hey, I have a possible case that I need you to work for me."

"What's up?" Detective Fred Chyre asks.

Joe sighs, "You know how I told you Barry was supposed to have a twin?"

"I thought his twin was a stillborn?"

"No. He's not. He's here with Barry at the hospital and the lady that raised Barry's twin is demanding them to get bloodwork done to prove that they're twins. If they do this and find that they are indeed twins then there are allegations that the man that raised Barry's twin kidnapped him from the hospital due to his own child being born a stillborn."

Fred let out a gusty sigh, "That's stiff. What about the doctor that delivered the twins and the stillborn?"

"He's still alive. He's been retired for three years now."

"I'll be over there shortly. Don't let anyone take their blood 'till I get there." Fred tells Joe, "I want to be a witness."

"I'll make sure it happens. Thanks Fred."

"Anything for you and the kid." Fred promises, hanging up.

Joe walks back into Barry's hospital room. "The doctor will be here shortly, but we have to wait for my detective partner, Fred Chyre, to get here."

"And why is that?" Moira demands, not looking up from where she was tapping angrily at her phone.

Joe raises an eyebrow, "To be another witness."

Moira sighs, "Fine. I'll just cancel my appointment for the new boutique here in Central."

Sebastian glares at Moira and shuffles even closer to Barry. Twenty minutes later Fred arrives in the room with a nod towards Joe and Sebastian. Joe swiftly gets up to find the doctor and the two amble back into the room several minutes later. The doctor efficiently takes the blood with a promise to get the report back to them as soon as possible.

About two hours later the doctor comes back with the results from the testing. The doctor looks around the room seriously and informs them all: "They are twins. Perfect match."

Moira looks at Sebastian in shock, who is smiling smugly at her. Joe looks towards Fred who is signing off with the doctor for the testing results. "Thank you for conducting the test, you have greatly helped our now on-going investigation." Fred turns towards the rest of the group as the doctor leaves the room. "Moira Smythe I have to ask you to remain in Central while the investigation is on-going as you are a person of interest. Barry's twin-?"

"Sebastian." Joe informs his partner of the name.

"Sebastian- should stay with someone other than his legal guardians during the investigation so he will not be influenced by those being investigated. A warrant for Richard Smythe's arrest is going to be sent out shortly."

"Could the CCPD send a notice of investigation over to Sebastian's school?" Joe asks his partner.

Fred nods, "I'll make sure that it happens by the end of tomorrow. Now I really need to go and get the warrant started. If you could send me the details of the doctor that was in charge of Barry's birth…?"

Joe nods, "I'll send you the information soon."

Fred nods once more towards Joe and Sebastian before telling Moira that "you should really leave the premise until everything is cleared up."

Moira huffs out of the room, sending a stink eye towards both Joe and Sebastian. Sebastian slumps down in the chair, "What's going to happen?"

"An investigation will take place and more than likely the doctor that delivered you and Barry will be arrested along with Mr. Smythe."

"Good." Sebastian nods in approval. "How is this case even still able to be open?"

Joe shrugs, "Statute of limitations has kidnapping open for twenty years. Smythe was the kidnapper and the doctor was a willing aide in the kidnapping. The court will decide if Moira played any part in the kidnapping or not."

"What will happen to me after? If they both go to jail? If only he goes to jail?" Sebastian asks, worried.

Joe clasps his hand onto Sebastian's shoulder, "I'll make sure you get a hearing so you can go where you want to."

"I don't want to go back with Moria." Sebastian looks terrified at the prospect, "She'd eat me alive if I went with her after sending her husband to jail."

"I'll make sure that that never happens. Where do you want to go then?" Joe kindly asks.

Sebastian smiles up at Joe, "I'd love to stay with you, Iris, and Barry if you'd have me."

Joe smiles warmly back at the younger man, "My doors are always open. Now, c'mon, let's get back to the house. You need to shower and eat a decent meal."

Sebastian glances over at his brother, "But what if he wakes up when I'm gone?"

"We'll make sure that the nurse calls us right away if Barry wakes up." Joe gently steers him towards the door, "You really do need a shower."

Sebastian makes a face, "Fine. But only because I can smell myself now."

Joe chuckles as the two make their way out of the hospital room to talk to the nurse at the nurse's station and then head towards the West home. Iris was waiting with supper on the table when the two men walk in the door. "Oh, how is Barry? He hasn't woke up yet has he?"

"Not yet." Joe tells his daughter. "But an investigation on Sebastian's kidnapping has been opened."

Iris gasps. "Really?"

Joe nods, "Fred is on the case."

"Good, he'll make sure everything gets done right. So does Sebastian have to go back to Dalton?"

Sebastian shakes his head as Joe replies, "Fred's sending a notice of investigation over to Dalton tomorrow so he can stay here as long as need be to get this all taken care of. At this rate you twins will have to repeat a year."

Sebastian groans, "Oh joy."

Joe laughs, "At least you'll have Barry to keep you company."

"I guess." Sebastian glumly replies.

"Well let's eat before it gets cold." Iris steps in, "Then Seb can go get a shower so he doesn't stink!"

"I don't smell _that_ bad do I?"

"You do." Joe and Iris reply at the same time.

"It's horrible." Iris continues to say.

Sebastian rolls his eyes and tucks into the food that Iris made. After a short meal, Iris shooes the two out of the room. Joe heads towards the living room while Sebastian ambles up the stairs and into Barry's room to get some clothes for after his shower. He sluggishly goes through the motions of showering and after he shoved a t-shirt over his head and managed to wrap some sweats around his hips, Sebastian collapses on the bed, exhausted from the day's happenings.


	13. Even Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up

_NOTE: I have a sequel to this story called The Russian Undertaking, which I will post on this site shortly….And by shortly I don't actually know, but I will eventually start crossposting it from my other site._

 _He sluggishly goes through the motions of showering and after he shoved a t-shirt over his head and managed to wrap some sweats around his hips, Sebastian collapses on the bed, exhausted from the day's happenings._

Weeks pass. Richard Smythe and the doctor who delivered the twins are sent to for bribery and kidnapping, the doctor for kidnapping and aiding a kidnapping. Barry is still laying in a hospital bed in a coma. Sebastian, with heavy support from Joe and Iris, takes Moira to court and the jury finds her to be an unfit parent. Moira is tasked with giving the Wests enough money to pay for both Sebastian and Barry to not only repeat their junior year, but to pay for their senior year at Dalton as well.

Sebastian moves fully into Barry's room while he lays in the hospital bed, still in a coma that continues to baffle doctors. May approaches and Sebastian bemoans the fact that he should be getting ready to become top dog at Dalton, not doomed to repeat another year.

"I mean, you'll have Barry there to make things better." Iris tries to cheer Sebastian up one night at the dinner table.

"But what if he doesn't wake up?" Sebastian looks at Joe, worry clearly written on his face.

Joe sighs, "I don't know what to tell you."

"Tell me that my brother will wake up." Sebastian's lips wobble, "It's been six months. Shouldn't he be awake by now? The doctors are starting to say he'll never wake up."

"We just gotta keep faith that he _will_ wake up." Joe replies, "If we don't have faith, then where are we?"

"You know Barry," Iris jokes, "always got to be late for everything."

Sebastian wetly laughs, swiping the tears forming at the corner of his eyes, "Excuse me." He chokes out before rushing out of the dining room.

Joe and Iris look after him in concern. "How's he going to make it through the school year if Barry is still in a coma?"

Joe sighs, "He'll have to. He really can't afford to miss another year of school. Missing his junior year once was bad enough."

"Dad, what if Barry never wakes up?" Iris sadly asks. "Isn't that what the doctors are saying? That he'll probably never wake up?"

"They say that every day his chances of waking up go down, but they're not completely ruling it out." Joe gently tells his daughter. "Have faith."

"It's hard. Why do all the bad things happen to the brightest people?" Iris asks, all choked up.

"The world doesn't like to be outshone." Joe sadly replies, turning back to his food in a mechanical manner. "Please finish your dinner, Iris, it does none of us good if you start to get sick from not eating enough."

Iris nods and shoves food in her mouth, tasting nothing that she chews. Once she had cleared her plate, Iris stands up and heads towards her room. Joe finishes his food and starts to clear the dinner table. Once the kitchen and dining room were clean, Joe leans against the counter and rubs at his eyes in exhaustion, starting to doze off standing there. The sharp ringing of the telephone breaks him out of the daze. Joe fumbles for the phone and hazily answers, "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Joe West?"

"Yes, this is he. Who is this calling?"

"I'm Mandy, Barry Allen's night nurse and I was calling to let you know that he is starting to wake up."

"Wake up!" Joe exclaims, suddenly wide awake.

Slight amusement laces her words, "Yes, Barry showed the first signs of waking from his coma a few minutes ago, which the doctors have confirmed are not false alarms. If you would like to come in, you can spend the evening with Barry."

"Can I bring his twin? His foster sister?" Joe eagerly asks.

"Yes, you can bring them both. But no more than three in the room." Mandy sternly replies.

"Thank you so much!" Joe's excitement rises, "We'll be right down!"

"Alright, drive safe now." Mandy cautions before letting the line go dead.

Joe stares at the dead phone line for a few seconds before eagerly rushing up to gather Sebastian and Iris. A frantic drive later finds the three surrounding Barry in his hospital bed. Sebastian stares at his brother's face, anxious for him to open his eyes again. "He'll wake up when he does." Joe reminds the boy as he places a calming hand on his shoulder.

Sebastian gently shrugs off Joe's hand, "I know. I just can't wait to have him awake again."

"Me too." Iris nods, "I miss Barry."

Joe sighs and settles deeper into his chair, watching his three children through lidded eyes. It was an hour later before Barry's eyes fluttered open. Sebastian was hovering over Barry in an instant. "Barr?" Sebastian asks, heart beating fast in his chest.

"Uhhgh." Came Barry's strangled response. "H'pp'ned?"

"You were struck by lightning." Sebastian filled in.

"L'ghtn'ng?" Barry mumbled.

"Yeah, lightning." Sebastian agreed with his brother as Joe scrambled to go retrieve the doctor. Iris keeps her distance, but allows a large smile to grace her face. Several moments later the doctor appears and gently pushes Sebastian back so he can start to check Barry over. While Barry gets his check-up done, Sebastian starts up a line of inane chatter to fill the silence. Barry keeps his eyes on Sebastian as best he can, a small smile starting to make its way onto his face.

Soon enough the doctor leaves after sternly telling the group to make sure Barry doesn't over do it and that he goes back to sleep soon. Sebastian fills his spot by Barry's bed while the Wests take up their chairs again. Barry makes a weak grabby hand towards his brother and Sebastian gives him his hand obligingly. "I've missed you."

"H'w l'ng?"

Sebastian looks towards Joe, who shrugs, leaving it up to Sebastian when they break the news on how long he's been in a coma. "Today's date is May 27."

Barry's eyes widen in shock and Iris clucks in sympathy. "R'lly?"

Sebastian nods, "I'm not kidding you. Though I wish I was. We're gonna have to be juniors again."

Barry does his best version of a sigh and squeezes Sebastian's hand tighter. "No."

Joe and Iris laugh at the look on Barry's face while Sebastian simply rolls his eyes. "Yeah, you're telling me. Nick and Jeff are going to be horrible because they'll think they're mightier than us for being a grade ahead."

Barry huffs out a breathy laugh and rolls his eyes at the thought. "At least we're going to repeat the year together." Sebastian says. Barry raises his eyebrows, silently demanding more information. Sebastian sighs, but tells Barry about his parents. "And I'm living with Joe and Iris now...and I guess you too." Sebastian finishes up the story.

Barry pats his brother's hand in sympathy, wanting to give him a hug. Barry attempts to sit up and do so, but Sebastian gently pushes him back down. "Maybe once you're feeling more up to it."

Barry gives a rueful smile, "Yeah."

"Hey Barr, I have just _got_ to tell you about something positively _hilarious_ that Elizabeth did the other day…" Iris starts, regaling Barry with funny stories from the past school year.

Sebastian gently scoots Barry over in his bed and snuggles in next to his twin during Iris' story. Barry shoves his nose into his brother's neck, one eye still on Iris as she gestures about, telling them all about what her friend did once at the mall. Joe smiles fondly at his three children, shutting his eyes for the moment.

Barry drifts off to the sound of Iris' voice, nose still firmly in place at his brother's neck and comfortably snuggled into Sebastian's side. Too soon, Sebastian also drifts off to sleep, breathing evening out. Iris smiles at the sleeping twins and turns to find her father also asleep. Iris sighs fondly. "Sleep well boys." She mutters as she too settles down in her chair to sleep for a while.

An hour or so later Joe and Iris wake up to the nurse coming into the room. The nurse smiles fondly at the sleeping boys. "Has Barry been asleep long?"

"I think for about an hour or so." Iris replies.

"We should really wake his brother up so we can do some more testing." The nurse states.

Joe looks slightly upset at the idea, "Could you work around him? Sebastian hasn't been sleeping much these past few months. I think this is the most soundly I've seen him sleeping since his brother went into a coma."

The nurse sighs, but relents, "For the most part, yes, we can work around him. Though we will have to wake him up when we need more through tests."

Joe gives the nurse a small, thankful smile, "Thank you."

The nurse purses her lips, "Only because I've grown fond of him. He seems entirely devoted to his brother. Reading to him like he did." After saying that, she gets to work taking her needed samples and readings before leaving as quietly as possible.

"I'm glad he's awake." Iris tells her father.

"Me too." Joe smiles, "I don't know what would have happened to Seb if Barr hadn't woken up."

"Probably flunked out of Dalton." Iris bluntly states, "He's been a total mess."

"Having a trial doesn't help." Joe gently rebuts his daughter. "God, maybe things can become a bit more normal for those two now."

"It's Barry, when are ever things normal around him?" Iris bitterly, if fondly, asks, "He's _always_ getting into a mess."

"We've got to hope things will settle down."

Iris sighs, "I sure hope so. He's going to be the reason for my early death."

Joe laughs, "You and me both. Now c'mon, let's go down to the cafeteria and get some food into you."

"And some for Sebastian?" Iris questions.

Joe nods, "And some for him too." The Wests make their way silently out of the room, leaving behind the twins who were happily sleeping curling into each other.


	14. Sequel

This is just a little note to let you all know, that there is a sequel to this story. You can find it on my profile under the name: The Russian Undertaking. The story of the twins continues….

Best,

cissathebookworm


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